In honor of National Grief Awareness Day, Emma Heming Willis shared how she has kept busy this summer
Emma Heming Willis is learning to live with her grief.
On Tuesday night, the model, 44, shared a video montage to Instagram showing what she’s been up to this summer in the wake of her husband Bruce Willis’ aphasia diagnosis and subsequent decision to step away from acting in March.
“This was the summer of self discovery — finding new hobbies, going out of my comfort zone and staying active,” Emma wrote in the caption to the post, which showed clips of her using a fitness mirror, gardening, playing tennis and doing some painting and finishing work on a wooden fence and table. Emma set her video montage to Aretha Franklin’s 1968 recording of “I Say A Little Prayer.”
“My grief can be paralyzing but I’m learning how to live along side it,” Emma continued in the caption. “As my step-daughter @scoutlaruewillis told me, grief is the deepest and purest form of love. I hope you find some comfort in that too 💞,”
Emma finished her caption with hashtags that shout out National Grief Awareness Day, which takes place on Aug. 30 every year.
Emma’s post comes months after the Willis family’s revealed that Bruce, 67, would step away from acting, a move Emma described as “a really challenging time for our family” in an announcement on Instagram at the time.
Willis’ sudden retirement prompted allegations that Willis’ frequent collaborator and Midnight in the Switchgrass director Randall Emmett pushed the actor to work despite his health issues. In June, Willis’ attorney Martin Singer clarified that Willis continued working “because he wanted to work and was able to do so” in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“My client continued working after his medical diagnosis because he wanted to work and was able to do so, just like many others diagnosed with aphasia who are capable of continuing to work,” Singer told the Times.
“Because Mr. Willis appeared in those films, they could get financed. That resulted in literally thousands of people having jobs, many during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” he added.
Though Bruce has retired from acting, he and his family appear to have kept busy in other ways. On Aug. 16, Emma shared a video on Instagram of Bruce showing off his harmonica skills while spending time with his daughter Rumer Willis’ boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas.
Thomas sang and strummed his guitar in the black and white clip, as the Die Hard star accompanied him on the harmonica from a nearby staircase.
“Their talent is speaking for itself. I’ll just leave this here 🎶,” Emma wrote of the moment, adding the hashtag #jamsession.
Praising the performance, one commenter wrote, “Long live the blues and long live Bruce! Excellent jam gents! 👏.”
“Oh man! That makes my whole heart happy, some gifts lost while others remain,” another echoed. “Music finds a way out of the darkest times.”
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